Welcome to Bimmerfest -- The #1 Online Community for BMW related information! Please enjoy the discussion forums below and share your experiences with the 200,000 current, new and past BMW owners. The forums are broken out by car model and into other special interest sections such as BMW European Delivery and a special forum to voice your questions to the many BMW dealers on the site to assist our members!

I've been toying on replacing the headlight switch to get the rear fog light function. But, I don't really want to spend the money to have the dealer do it. How is it done? Does the wood trim pop off or is it attached to the panel, and if so, how does it come off to give access to the 4 screws that hold the switch in (as can be seen from the picture of the switch).

I was at the dealer's to have the trunk/lid switches replaced (they stopped working and couldn't open the hatch, only the small lid and then only with the remote or interior switch!). The trim is a press fit into nylon inserts...there are pins that push into them. So, with a non-marring pry tool, if you start with the metal strip on the bottom, you should be able to pop it off. It'll be a week or so before the headlight switch I ordered shows up (adds rear fog light functionality) before I can tell for sure, though. I delayed shipping so I could be home (out of town), otherwise, I'd have it. We get some nasty weather, fog and snow, and I think a rear fog is a big safety feature.

Headlight switch is screwed to trim by 4 torx screws. As has already been mentioned, the trim press-fits into the dash and is retained by 4 clips. Tools suggested in previous reply will work well, I removed mine with finger nails and a wooden lollipop stick

jad
keep me nformed...was thinking about this mod months ago and it fell of my radar screen... will be interested to see how easy you find it to DIY...and how worthwhile the rear fog is to you...where did you order the switch from and how much was it???
best and happy new year
mp

Well, it took all of about 10-minutes to pry off the trim, unscrew the old switch, unplug it, then swap in the new switch. I had an old putty knife that had rounded over edges, and used that to pry it up, then just pulled, not sure where my plastic trim tools are at the moment?! The connector was a little bit of a pain to get out, but the tab lock isn't horrible. On some other versions, there's a lever that locks the connector in...not on this model.

Anyway, if you haven't seen the rear of a GT with the fog lights illuminated, it lights up a round section on each side. If you're standing close and looking down, you may not notice much...the lens on the thing has a fairly good cutoff, and you need to be behind the vehicle to get the full effect. A quick, simple safety upgrade IMHO. Truly just plug and play...

It's kind of dirty at the moment, and I've got things torn apart trying to install a trailer wiring harness...maybe later. Having trouble getting a couple of interior trim pieces off. The instructions I have aren't very helpful on the panels that need to come off...on some, they showed the screws and fasteners, but not on all.

Well, we haven't had a dry day where it was worth washing the car since it would end up just as dirty after a mile or so, so I took a picture of the rear showing how it looks with the rear fog lights illuminated. If you aren't familiar with the rear, the fogs are the bright circles towards the middle of the vehicle. They are fairly directional, and you might not notice them much walking by, you do have to get down low, so they should be less of an annoyance to people following than on some brands I've noticed.

I have to wonder why some people find it useful to run around with both the front rear fog lights on in clear weather! I find it sort of like driving with your high beams on in traffic...not nice.

Anyway, I think for the relatively modest investment, it was worth it for this safety enhancement that, to me, anyway, should have come from the factory here in the USA market.